A typical method of providing holders for cylindrical and like articles in luggage, toiletry bags, brief-cases softsided medical kits or on tool or ammunition belts or pouches is to employ a strip of cloth, sometimes elasticized, and embroider or otherwise affix at intervals the strip of cloth to the surface of the luggage, toiletry bag, etc. so as to form loops in the strip of cloth. The size of the loop will determine the size of the article that can be held within the loop, the use of elasticized cloth adding a degree of accommodation as to the size of the article which may be held in the loop. Typically, the use to which the article holder is intended will dictate the size of the loop formed in the strip of cloth. This is most often done at the point of manufacture of the luggage, toiletry bag, etc.
For example, medical kits used by para-medics and like emergency attendants are often very specialized in the equipment they provide, depending on the particular trauma they are being called on to treat. Kits having pre-formed loops thus must be manufactured to address specific needs such as intravenous administration, intubation and airway management, or ampoule and vial medication storage and administration. A second example are ammunition holders on hunter's clothing or on police body armour. Vests and body armour having pre-formed loops for holding ammunition must have a variety of different sized loops to accommodate different sized ammunition such as shotgun shells and rifle rounds. This limits the quantity of any one size of ammunition that can be carried.
It is often desirable to be able to re-size the loops after the medical kit, article of hunter's clothing, luggage, toiletry bag, etc. is manufactured to accommodate different sized articles. That is, it is desirable for the end-user to be able to customize the uses to which the manufactured product may be put. Various devices have been proposed to accomplish this.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,991,306 entitled "Article Holder" which issued to Cora Woolsey on Feb. 12, 1935, discloses an article holder in which an elastic strap is threaded or laced through a series of holes or slits in a single layer foundation piece.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,523,702 entitled "Tool Holder" which issued to Matti Viio on Jun. 18, 1985, discloses a tool holder which can be adapted by the end-user to provide elastic loops of varying size. The Viio device utilizes a single layer plate in which rows of slots are provided. Flexible straps are threaded through selected pairs of closely spaced slots. Stop means may be provided to prevent unintentional slipping of the straps in their respective slots.
It has been found that merely threading strapping through a single layer plate, foundation or semi-rigid bearing surface does not always prevent the strap from slipping. If the strapping slips this may unintentionally change the size of the loops, especially if the strapping is of resilient elastic material.